Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE FAR NORTH
Myanmar's far northern range of Himalayan 'Ice Mountains' is one of the world's least-
known 'last frontiers'.
Hkakabo Razi
(19,295ft), the nation's loftiest summit, is over a
half a mile higher than Mont Blanc and had never been climbed until 1996. Perhaps
that's not surprising given that the trek to reach its base camp took almost a month. The
surrounding
Hkakabo Razi National Park
is considered a treasure trove of biodiversity.
Landscapes here are similar to those found in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh -
steep forests, ridges of peaks bursting through the snowline and deep valleys carved by
fast-flowing mountain rivers. Further south is the
Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve
(
www.panthera.org/programs/tiger/tigers-forever/Myanmar
)
, which, at 6748 sq miles, is larger
than all of India's tiger reserves put together, although reports suggest that the number of
tigers has dropped dramatically in recent years thanks to unregulated logging and mining
in the area.
The far north has sparse populations of Kachin, Rawang, Lisu and even a handful of
Taron, the only known pygmy group in Asia. Set well back from the higher peaks, the
only settlement of any size is
Putao
, an oddly diffuse place that has a market but no oth-
er real sense of a town centre. This was the site of the isolated British WWII military out-
post, Fort Hertz, though there's no fortress to visit.
Today the region still feels (and genuinely is) entirely cut off from the rest of Myan-
mar. This may change as the airport runway gets extended and new tourism facilities are
being developed. But for now, to get even the briefest possible glimpse, you'll have to do
an organised 'tour', costing from around $600 per person for the shortest four-day op-
tion. That will get you to one or two photogenic suspension footbridges and some un-
spoilt rural villages, though the latter aren't markedly different from similar settlements
elsewhere in rural north Myanmar. Unless you trek for many days further, the Himalayan
horizon will remain fairly distant, and might stay hidden altogether by rain clouds. So is
it worth the trouble? That really depends on how you value exclusivity. If you're com-
paring tourist numbers, Putao makes Bhutan look like a veritable Benidorm.
The best time to visit is from October to April, when daytime temperatures are quite
pleasant and nights are cold but rarely freezing.
Tours
Foreigners are periodically barred from travelling to Putao and the far north, as they were
at the time of writing. When travel is allowed, the only way to visit is on a pre-arranged
tour. Allow ample time for organising practicalities as your agency will need to obtain
permits that take between 10 days and two weeks to issue, often much longer. The
